660 Transactions of the American Institute. 



Brest, it was confined to those apartments which were connected with 

 the sewers by means of water-closets. 



In the official report of the Metropolitan Board of Public Works, 

 London, for 1865-66, we find it stated that it is necessary for all the 

 sewers to have openings into the air, to allow free ventilation, other- 

 wise the sewer gas will pass through the house pipes into the dwell- 

 ings, and without such ventilation it would be impossible for work- 

 men to enter the sewers to clean them and make repairs. 



In the report of the Metropolitan Sanitary Commission, Dr. 

 Phillips says that he examined the direction of the currents of air in 

 the sewers with the flame of a candle, and without exception found 

 that the flame was drawn into the openings of the house pipes. 



It is not necessary for me to cite any more cases, for the fact of 

 the existence of such gas is well known, and it is a common saying 

 among plumbers that a water-closet will stink before it has been used. 



It has been proposed to destroy the injurious influence of this gas 

 by consuming it ? but until now no such plan has been put into opera- 

 tion. Chief Engineer Bazelgette says in his report, that in order to 

 deprive the London sewer gas of its injurious properties by combus- 

 tion, it would be necessary to have about 230 furnaces with high 

 chimneys, at a cost of £460,000, with an annual cost for coal of 

 £225,000. 



In the face of these important facts I am unable to discover how, 

 as long as the sewers are made the receptacles of the fecal matter, they 

 will enable us to obtain the first and second of the three great deside- 

 ratums that a good sanitary system requires for all cities, viz. : pure 

 air, pure earth, pure water. 



It is the opinion now of a great many well informed persons that 

 the only practical way of preventing the sewers from becoming a per- 

 manent nuisance, is to absolutely prohibit the discharge of all fecal 

 matter into them, and the enactments in England in this respect are 

 of such a character that it will soon be almost impossible for the 

 sewers to be used as the channels for carrying away this substance. 

 Various ways have been proposed to transport this stuff out of the 

 city, but I will only call your attention to those that propose to 

 utilize it. 



The first that I will mention is what is called the " cask system." 

 This has been in operation for over ten years in the city of G-ratz, in 

 Austria. The city contains nearly 100,000 inhabitants, and the 

 system may be said to be in general use there. The system consists 

 of single casks provided with proper funnels for conveying the 



